Soap Stone Carving

Michael ManyEagles

Nêhiyawak (Cree)~Métis artist Michael ManyEagles is a Wâposwayân (Rabbit Skin) person of the Muskwa (Bear) Clan, from the Mahkêsîs (Fox) Band of Deep Creek, Manitoba and has been creating traditional art since the 1960’s, winning the Lieutenant Governor’s Award for Art in the ‘70’s. He began his teaching career in 1973 and has been sharing and exhibiting his works in stone locally and internationally since 1989, as well as teaching and conducting soapstone carving workshops throughout Canada in schools, businesses, various other public institutions and at his Winnipeg artist’s collective studio “The Hyve”. As a traditional carver he collects Canadian soapstone himself from Northwestern Ontario, trades stones with people from across the globe and uses only hand tools, traditional carving methods and beeswax to polish.  His passionate vision involves listening to the stone, respecting its essence, and gently releasing the spirit in the stone, often leaving some of the original stone untouched. His art is held in collections around the globe, such as the Canadian Embassy in Bejiing, China, as well as numerous well~known personalities including actor Keanu Reeves.

An Indigenous Perspective on Gardening

Audrey Logan

Audrey Logan, is a revered Cree/Metis knowledge keeper of traditional Indigenous gardening practices. She is the visionary founder of Dehydration Nations, where she champions food dehydration and indigenous food sovereignty. Audrey is also the creator of the Deer Spirit Permaculture Garden in West Broadway, Winnipeg. Her passion for sharing wisdom is contagious, and we can't wait to learn from her wealth of knowledge.

Nature as Medicine & Live Music Yoga

Kris Garner

Kris Garner is an educator with a passion for mental and emotional health and well-being. She is the founder of the Emotional Literacy Movement, a grassroots organization that collaborates with schools, community members, and larger organizations to bridge the gap in emotional literacy skills and education. This initiative aims to raise awareness of our biological needs and how to better support them in increasingly urbanized environments. Kris will be facilitating a workshop on the power of nature as a natural balancer of our nervous system, exploring the science behind our deep interactions with nature. The workshop will examine the impacts of nature on overall health, how we engage with nature through our five senses, and how reclaiming this relationship can support our well-being.

Laughing Yoga & Musical Performance

Tim Barlow

Tim Barlow, known as "The Laughing Lion," is a British/Canadian advocate of Laughter Wellness. With a musical background spanning Europe and Canada, he seamlessly transitioned into children's music after becoming a father. Tim's diverse efforts include leading Laughter Wellness sessions in various settings, from Festivals to Workplace Team Building Events. Likened to the English Fred Penner, he engages participants with movement activities and songs, spreading love and joy. Tim recently concluded his successful Winnipeg Fringe show, ‘Laughing Yoga – The Musical,’ reinforcing his belief in laughter's profound impact on mental health. Guided by 'I Don't Laugh Because I'm Happy, I'm Happy Because I Laugh,' Tim champions intentional laughter for stress relief, immune boosting, and hope cultivation. His commitment to making laughter accessible to all reflects his view that 'Laughter is the Best Medicine'. Tim's positivity and dedication shine through in his mission to enhance lives through laughter, music, and shared artistic experiences.

He is excited to announce the release of his children's book called 'How to make a Rock Happy - A guide to laughing wellness'.

Storytelling

Wolfhaven

Wolfhaven is a professional storyteller who tells tales that captivate, entertain, and educate. With an energetic style he brings to life stories from the worlds of personal experience, history, nature, folklore, and myth. He has presented stories and workshops in venues such as the Manitoba Museum, the Millennium Library, the Winnipeg Fringe Festival, outdoor music festivals, coffee shops, parties, and around many campfires. He loves to enchant people with the spoken word, make them laugh, open their minds, and help them learn something about the world and themselves.

Earth Beats

Jesse Singer

Jesse Singer has been tapping and banging out rhythms for as long as he can remember. This universal instinct has served him as a means to self-regulate, achieve states of bliss and joy, and as a way to connect with others. As a drummer/percussionist he has accompanied many musical artists in Winnipeg, including reggae, folk and Latin groups, and was a principal drummer in radical marching band, the Flaming Trolleys for 10 years. He has also cut his chops drumming in places ranging from Pope’s Hill (Winnipeg Folk Festival) to Salvador, Brazil, and has shared what he’s learned with community whenever possible. Jesse works as a social worker and most recently has researched the individual and social health benefits of drum circles during his Masters of Social Work degree, creating and facilitating a wellness themed drum circle program for students, which continues to this day. Jesse is excited to facilitate a fun, connecting and healing group drumming experience with you!

ABC Come Breathe

with Me

Lindsey Brown

Lindsey is a mother, daughter, sister, auntie, educator, facilitator, and guide. With three beautiful children who have taught her invaluable life lessons, she finds peace and balance in daily outdoor practices among the trees. Lindsey will be offering the "ABC Come Breathe With Me" workshop, designed for children aged four to eight and their parents. This active kids' breathwork workshop welcomes all to join Lindsey in learning to slow down, get centered and tune in with the natural order of life.

Storytelling with Anna from Frozen &  Ecstatic Dance

Steph Schmid

Stephanie Schmid comes to you with a history of competitive dance, musical theatre performance, and yoga instruction. Movement has always been a part of her life but she didn’t always consider herself a “dancer”. Though she developed technically, and became adaptable and versatile as a performer, she didn’t truly feel like a dancer until she allowed herself to let go of the pressures and perfection that came with the title. Stephanie will inspire you to find new pathways of movement through your body by means of music, rhythm, visualization, and elemental exploration! There’s a dancer inside all of us, we just need to give them the space to do their thang!

Live Music Yoga

Jess Rae Ayre

You may recognize Jess Rae from the Western Canadian Music Award Winning roots band Sweet Alibi. When Jess isn’t hitting the road with Sweet Alibi, she performs with her solo project. Jess Rae, though newly starting to make appearances under her solo moniker, has warmed up the stage for Ron Sexsmith, Slow Leaves, and is beginning to make appearances on festival stages, and venues throughout Canada. 
 Jess will be releasing her debut solo album, No Straight Lines this year.

Join Jess alongside Kris Garner for some Live Music Yoga to wrap up our festival on Sunday morning.
 

Website: https://www.jessrae.ca/ 

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DJ

Genie Baffoe

Eugene "GeNie" Baffoe is a freestyle hip hop dancer, educator, and DJ, from Montreal Québec. He has been studying Hip Hop Culture for almost 2 decades, teaching, dancing and DJ'ing all across Canada and the U.S. over the last 4 years, showcasing his unique sound and mixing style. A versatile open format DJ capable of spinning nearly everything from weddings, corporate events, street dance battles and  festivals. DJ GeNie a.k.a Mr. Inna Bottle is cued up and ready to rock.

Morning Sound Workshop

Darby JOnes

What's a Darby Jones? A Darby Jones is a peculiar free spirit that keeps his body busy with all the activities that nourishes his soul and recharges his batteries. When he's around a campfire, you better believe he'll be playing guitar and singing. He's been performing with the Riel Gentleman's choir for about 8 years and he loves all music genres, and anything that keeps his body and mind moving. Fashioned after Yuia Tsur's singing workshops, Darby will kick off our festival with warm-up exercises, humming, and tuning into our own frequency as well as that of the group. By harmonizing with one another and raising our energy through sound and song, we will set a positive and cohesive tone for the festival's start.

Solar Wheel Weavings

Rachel Starbloom

Rachel Starbloom is a Multi-disciplinary artist, arts educator, and devotional creative living on treaty 1 territory, turtle island. After receiving an honours BFA from the University of Manitoba, she has shown her work both locally and internationally. Starbloom has worked for non for profit arts organizations such as graffiti art programming and Art City inc. and has facilitated public art projects with the west end biz, Spence neighbourhood organization, Assiniboine Park, Park People + MABELLEarts (Toronto) and has recently worked with Forest school groups guiding nature art explorations. Rachel is most interested in connecting our inner ecology with the ecology of our living world through the power of rewilding, land stewardship, and celebrating our authentic nature together. In Rachel’s art workshop, we’ll come together to weave our own solar wheels. Using branches gifted from trees and natural yarn of vibrant colours, we’ll craft and create something special to commentate the vibrant summer cycle. In collaboration with the land, we may also add nature materials such as flowers & prairie grasses that we forage from the environment.

Plant Walk

Elisa Wiebe

Elisa is excited and humbled to lead participants on a mindful walk around the 8.5 acre land she's had the privilege of calling home for 39 years. She will point out the abundance of native species that are harmoniously repopulating various aspects of the property and discuss her observations of the years as the land has transformed from a disrupted railroad to a thriving landscape of prairie wildflowers, fruit baring shrubs, oak trees and a haven for wildlife. She feels the biggest contribution she can contribute to reparation is to work with the land or rather observe, witness, and simply interfere as little as possible as the land repairs and re-establishes itself. Bringing others to gather on the land for learning and wellness initiatives is truly a dream come true. If you and your family are attending SOLA fest this year, WELCOME! 

Musical Performance

Alenna Mark

Alenna is so grateful to everyone that has come together to help support this mission for holistic, nature-based education and living practices. She has always loved being involved in children’s lives through many different avenues and has a deep passion for the arts. Alenna can often be heard saying “there are no rules in art” as she strives to encourage our inner creatives to be confident and express without boundaries! This weekend Alenna will be around the festival doing many things that promote community connection such as guiding sing-alongs and crafts. She is so happy to share in the creation of art with the world!

Musical Performance

Grace Hrabi & Jesse Popeski

Jesse Popeski and Grace Hrabi have been performing together since 2013.  Both were born and raised in Winnipeg, and hold degrees in music from the University of Manitoba. The duo perform a variety of genres, including oldies, jazz, classic country and pop. Jesse and Grace are two thirds of the band Casati, who have released two albums and toured across Canada performing original music.

The Plants are Calling 

Learn to Juggle & More

Mosheh Ravensong & Sara 

Yagelniski

Sara and Mosheh, over a large part of the last two centuries, have been focused on bringing people closer to the land and its gifts through work and play.  They are small scale farm activists, mad gardeners, community twist ties, gratitude practitioners, and systems nerds.  They both earnestly fight for the right of all Humyns to connect to their deepest roots and re-call the power to create culture from the depths of our experiences and our aspirations.  Sar & Mosheh will be offering an interactive experience that explores myth building as a foundation stone to broaden our understanding as it relates to the plants and the land.  Participants will dive into the realms of deep imagination as they name and describe the natural world.

Fire Performance

Sacred Flames Dance Trio

Sacred Sisters Trio is an incarnation of the ritual dance theatre troupe led by Stacy Klassen and includes Monique Andrew and Jess Wolfe. Forged in the underworld of Winter Solstice and debuted at the Royal Albert Arms as horned goddesses, they have brought their brand of tribal bellydance fusion to pagan celebrations, punk shows and the Winnipeg Tattoo show stage. Summer brings the element of fire to their dance repertoire and to you at SOLA fest.

Access Bars

Facepainting

Louisa Zachar

Maria-Louisa is trained in a wide range of healing arts. One of those healing art forms is Access Consciousness Bars, and she has been offering this modality at different festivals for the past number of years.

Access Consciousness Bars is a modality that facilitates transformation, allowing people to live and function more from awareness, openness, receiving, being and inner knowing. 

Bars Sessions help people:

• function more from beyond thoughts, feelings and emotions

• awaken and open up to many more possibilities in life

• be more present in different areas of life

• see others and situations in life with greater clarity

• open doors to different levels of healing

• live life more consciously!

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There are 32 points, on the head connected to various conditionings, thought patterns, attitudes, judgements, conclusions and beliefs about life that may have formed during this lifetime and beyond. During a session, using gentle touch, the Access Bars practitioner connects and gently holds the different sets of these points (‘Bars’) on the head to help dissipate the electrical charge of polarity stored within the brain. Connecting these various points helps access the different behavioural patterns, beliefs systems and points of view and helps restore balance and ease. Recipients often report feeling more relaxed, peaceful and present during and after a session, as well as a feeling of restfulness and rejuvenation.

Massage Therapy with Ivan Arevalo

Phoenix blue Massage

Discover the rejuvenating power of Phoenix Blue Massage, where healing and relaxation are the top priorities. Ivan Arevalo, a highly skilled and fully registered therapist with over a decade of experience, offers a diverse range of massage therapies tailored to meet your unique needs. Ivan's expertise includes Swedish massage, deep tissue massage, sports massage, cranio-sacral therapy, trigger point therapy, stretching therapy, myofascial release, acupressure, muscle traction, and active release therapy. Trust Ivan’s professional expertise to help you unwind, recover, and revitalize at Phoenix Blue Massage.

Emotional Freedom Technique

Facepainting

Nicole Peel

Nicole is an intuitive, natural-born healer, and feels most on-purpose when holding calm, present space for people to be with themselves, helping them find and maintain a state of love and acceptance. Nicole first discovered EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) in 2018 through a series of synchronicities, and was blown away by how powerful it was in transforming her inner and outer world. She obtained her EFT Facilitator certification in 2019 in Austin, Texas, and completed a second certification in Shadow EFT in 2023 in Mexico. She has been facilitating people in EFT sessions for the past 5 years, helping people clear their emotional blocks, beliefs, and triggers to feel clearer, happier, and more empowered to create the life they actually want to live.

Henna Art

Lori Fast

Lady Lorelie is a skilled henna artist with over a decade of experience. She offers a wide range of designs, from traditional patterns to contemporary art. In 2019, she expanded her talent to include permanent tattoos, using both traditional handpoke/stick 'n poke methods as well as with a tattoo machine. 

Henna is still her favourite method of artistic expression and exploration and she loves sitting with people and adorning them in lovely henna designs.